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Last Saturday I went and explored a bit of water I knew very little about. That’s what I felt like doing. I knew from driving alongside it at the start of the season that it had a 4-5k gorge which I thought I’d get through in the day. I’d say I got through 2ks of it max! It was very slow going with lots of climbs, some quite technical. I felt like spiderman with a flyrod at one stage, I was spreadeagled across a rock face over a deep pool inching along it very slowly! (A new super-power Kristian??) No risk of course; if I fell off, I’d land in the river, get wet and swim out. Next weekend is more gorge fishing. At the end of the season I’ll be kicking back with some friends in Lumsden for 5 days. We will fish short, fish filled sections of the Mataura each day. It will be so easy I might feel guilty. The walking and lack of climbing I mean! I expect the fishing will be challenging demanding good fundamentals.

Have a great week!

Ronan..

Ps. As you’ll see from my photo’s I have updated a lot of my gear. For info on any of these products check out http://manictackleproject.com/ The Lamson reels are so so nice!

First fish.. I almost left the river due to the colour of the water.

Easy river but I know there’s a gorge not far away!

Another solid little fish..

Here is one for my fly-blog’s F&F expert, Breandan, to identify… check the comments over the next few days for results!

8 well conditioned, beautifully marked fish for my day..

The gorge begins…

Some deep pools and steep cliffs in the gorge..

I had one here..

Another for the F&F man…

I guess those lines were horizontal at some stage…

And one more for you Breandan..

Clambering over rocks adds another element to the fishing day!

There were loads of these about. Always a good sign for the future of a river!

I have a few easy days on the Mataura coming up.. no climbing!

I had to climb out here. It took a while to find a route back down.

Went on Dunstan for a few hours on Sunday. I had 3 good rainbows.

Trout from the lake, prawns from Thailand!

Happiness is a box in the mail! All my gear is worn out, it has been for ages truth be told! Time to invest in my sport…

This week on SLTV, Episode 5. New Zealand to Tasmania. Its not easy to fish, film, row, net etc all at the same time from a kayak! In this episode I beat Paul 10 trout to 4 on a lake in NZ, Then Paul beats me 5-1 on a lake in Tassie… That still puts me in front I do believe! But were not competitive at all…

Fishing for really big trout is an addiction. There are lots of options available to me but at the moment I’m targeting big fish at a few locations. I cant help myself! For Easter the plan is a little different. Jeff Forsee and I are heading into fjordland. We are unlikely to find fish of the size and calibre you’ve been seeing and reading about in my recent reports but who knows, there are a few big fish in there. Big fish is not the purpose anyway. It’s about getting into the wilderness for a few days and making the most of what ever opportunities we get. Fjordland is good for the soul.

The weekend gone by was another epic one. Kristian and I got ourselves organised on Saturday for 3 days in the wild fishing with packs on. The idea being that we fish until we’ve had enough and then make camp where ever that is, we then continue from there the next day. This is a great way to explore but the walk out after a few days fishing can be really tough!

We had Saturday evening, all day Sunday and Monday morning to fish. I got a 9.5lb stunning red trout on arrival on Saturday. First cast actually! That was it.

Saturday was different. While Kristian was cooking some breakfast and I was contemplating the day ahead I noticed a sprightly individual moving at pace up river. In no time he was at our camp. It was Robbie Mcphee. At the speed he was moving I expected it would be! These can be awkward situations. How do we all divide up the river? Robbie and I met once before so that made this chance situation a little easier. We chatted for a while and decided we would fish together! Once we got our gear packed away we got to it. We went shot for shot. In the early part of the day we basically had 3 chances each. I landed one 6lber, lost a really big fish and broke in a small fish. Robbie landed 2 close on 9lbs. Kristian landed an 8.5lber, a 10.25lber and a 10.75lber. I’ve only had one over 10 in all my years here.

We had a few more shots in the afternoon but only landed a couple. I had both, some redemption from my morning efforts! They were both very memorable fish; the first, Kristian had the first shot but snagged a rock, then Robbie had a go but snagged a tree, then I took my shot and sent my fly into the zone and got the fish. I learned from my 2 predecessors and took up a better position. The other fish was from a very deep pool where i let my single size 14 nymph sink to the bottom. I watched the fish cruise near where I expected the fly to be and struck at the sight of a mouth flash. It was a satisfying moment when everything went tight! That fish was about 7.5lbs.

It was Kristians day. 2 over 10? That does not happen every day. Well done man!

The next day was nothing to write home about but all up it was a mission I’ll never forget. I know Kristian and Robbie wont forget it either. Robbie and I will fish together again soon, I look forward to that.

The winner of my competition from my first 100 subscribers is Eadaoin Ni Bhraoin, subscriber number 31! Congratulations to you Eadaoin, 2 return tickets to NZ in the post, sorry, no, 2 dvd’s!

Finally, This week on SLTV, My introduction to the series. This is the first of a 3 part show from Fjordland. In this show you will see the best footage of the hell that can be sand-flies ever filmed! Also some fish and some new characters…

I’m exhausted! This weeks report might seem a bit thrown together.. I wont get another chance to write it though because Easter and a new adventure starts after work tomorrow. Good night!

Stuntman Ronan..

ps. To view the images full size click it, then click it again when the thumbnail appears, and again to enlarge it even more!!. Wordprees made a change and I cant go back to the old way. Very annoying.

Getting everything in order!

A few flies by Kristian Bang Foss…

Ready for the back-country..

Not a bad sight to greet us at the river!

First cast…

Dream start (very late in the day though!) but this fish spooked the entire pool.

As usual, tippet destroyed and fly bent out. One more head shake and I’ve had lost that fish!

Sausages for dinner.. and whiskey.. and wine!

Camp.. No rush out of “bed”

No rush at all!

A bit hung over but charged with anticipation!

“I can taste 10lbers”

Robbie Mcphee appeared suddenly! We all fished together..

Another big fish for Robbie Mcphee! A passionate angler. He loves the fish and the game.

Bang Foss with the first of his doubles. this went 10.25lbs.

Around 9lbs for Robbie..

KBF into another brute…

Love this shot! 10.75lbs ripping line off the reel..

Almost there!

No disputing that this is a really big fish!

Unreal..

Robbie checks out a pool…

This from the very bottom of a deep pool. Yet another powerhouse..

Kicking back to relive an amazing day!

Another night on the river.. This big fella was beside my pack!

This one’s for you Breandan! What is this fungus? and the little snail beside it? And the spider while your at it!! That will keep you busy!! :)

After covering a couple of ks of virtually fishless water we approached the gorge. A gorge always excites me. There is no set path; they are dangerous, moody, wild, alive, powerful, and beautiful and many other things to inspire an angler. On this day there were few fish in the gorge but optimism pushed me forward.I can only speak for me but I know something was driving Kristian too. We found a few in one pool but one cast from me spooked them all. We moved on. One fish in the next pool looked at my fly then disappeared. We moved on, constantly climbing rock walls and boulders so the going was slow. I climbed myself into a point where I could not go up, down, across or back. I felt fear because I was high up, much too high to jump. I took a breath and carefully turned around and edged my way back to relative safety. From there I jumped into the river into waist deep water. The whole point of my climb was to keep my balls dry. We moved on. More climbing and on a few occasions we had to help each other. It’s important when gorge fishing to look out for your buddy. We reached a point where it seemed we had to leave the gorge and drop in farther up. We started climbing. On the way up I took a glance into the pool from the cliff and spotted a trout rise. I could see him and he was big. Very big. Come what may we were fishing that pool. We surveyed the pool and its surrounding cliffs and boulders. I figured I could go downstream and cross and then climb in over a bluff. Kristian decided to swim because he’s afraid of heights. We both made it in safely and what greeted us was unlike anything I had ever seen before. At first I could not believe my eyes so I got into a better position. Kristian could see very little from river level so I suggested he stay put until I see exactly what we are about to fish for. I had not yet climbed down to the river so I crept through the trees and around the pool. Looking in from a better angle I could see what we were up against. A pod of about 50 sea-run browns from 3lbs up to god only knows what. Rock, scissors paper for the first shot. I lost!

Most of the fish were facing a swirling back eddy out of the main current so a drag free drift was going to be very difficult to achieve. Kristian started with a dry/dropper combo. No joy. Next a double nymph rig with more weight. He hooked and landed a small fish which took the nymph while retrieving, an induced take of sorts. That was a valuable clue. I stepped up to the casting rock and before long had a good fish on. These fish fight hard and dirty! They know every snag in the pool. This fish also took a retrieved trailing nymph. For the next while we had some magical fishing. We learned how to fish for them as we did it and what we learned is very interesting. It’s exactly what I was taught about Atlantic salmon fishing back in Ireland. Change the fly often, Change the retrieve speed and form, Change your position, and most importantly rest the pool. Using these disciplines we landed 6 and lost/broke in about as many. We got them on dries, nymphs, wets and Lures. We held off on the big lures until the end of the day (another salmon fishing trick). I launched the Dore’s Mr Glister and the whole pool went ballistic! Strip-strip-strip and there are 10 huge trout chasing creating a bulging bow wave in the pool. One took and I lost him. I cast in again. The same thing happened and again lost the fish. 3rd cast, the entire pool spooked. That was it.

We did not want to leave but light was failing and we had a gorge to climb out of. Back at camp we discussed a plan for the next day. We decided to have another go at the pool. It seemed slightly unethical but we both had to go back. The plan was to go straight there in the morning and settle in for the day. That’s what we did. We brought a few beers, food, etc. I lost the rock scissors paper again so Kristian had the first shot. He had one pretty quickly. I struggled but got a small one on a dry after resting the pool after Kristian’s event. For the rest of the day we did not land another fish. I lost a huge fish and another good fish. Our curiosity was settled and another valuable lesson learned. Do not repeat water! I learned more over this weekend than I have all season.

On another note, below the photo’s from a truly epic weekend is this week’s instalment of SLTV, “Frazer’s Hat” This is a great show!! What happened to the boat at the end was not a trick. Frasers little outboard never worked again. Paul is really good at breaking anything with a petrol engine, or a diesel one.. or anything really… Enjoy the chaos, I know you will…

Stuntman Ronan..

Ps. If you enjoy what I write, photograph and film please share it on facebook or email links to your friends. It’s all origional and it’s free! By the way, only 6 subscribers needed to make 100 and the prize draw!!

My cicada..

Off into the gorge.. The first of many climbs!

Magic place.. There was one fish here!

I love gorge fishing! It’s exploring.. there is no set path.

What appears to be an easy climb down is not!

This is one reason I love gorge fishing! Light, water, rocks and trees in harmony!

“for the love of water”

Kristian chose to swim, I chose to climb. We both made it!

and this was our reward… I could barely believe my eyes!

Fishing to a so many fish is weird. spook one, spook ‘em all… excite one, the entire pool goes mental!

Stunning big gray sea-trout.. and man can they fight. They seem to know every snag in the pool.

After swimming and many ball deep crossings it was time to warm up. We were in no rush to leave this pool.

After some bad luck with bust off’s and loses Kristian is in…

Best of the day.. Like an atlantic salmon!

We discussed a plan for day 2 over a campfire and a few beers!

Day 2 begins…

This is a healthy game!

One more decent and were on the river again!

No rush, were here for the day. I lost the rock scissors paper so Bang Foss got the first shot to the pod…

with this result!! He may look very sad here but he was happy! Very happy..

We tried many things but nothing was working… Lunch was excellent and it gave the pool a good rest.

Top scran..

Some of my arsenel. Dries, nymphs, wets and lures all accounted for fish.

I have writers block. No idea what to talk about. Too much happened since the last fishing blog and it’s all become a blur. There have been lots of friends through, both old and new and from all over the place. That’s been great!! (a bit too good actually, I am no longer allowed to have guests)

The lake has been very bad at times to excellent other times. Everything is extremely low. The rivers and lakes need a freshen up. I will promptly report back on this coming weekend before it all becomes a blur again!

One thing I thought about doing recently was running the entire SLTV series through my blog. So I’ll do it! I know I have many subscribers and I’m sure non-subscribers who have never seen or heard of it, so, to you folks, I suggest you watch it like a tv show. I will bring you a 10 minute fly-fishing film at least once a week. Both Paul Arden and I are the hosts (though I don’t appear until episode 4). The shows are from NZ, Tasmania and The Northern Territory in Australia. They are filmed, edited, directed and produced by Paul and I. Without further ado, Here is Episode 1. “Paul Arden”. (I put it below the pics so you don’t forget to check them out!!)

Tomorrow is the start of 2.5 serious days fishing!

Work to live… Ronan..

Mark Adamson on some Dunstan flats..

Fishing was ok… Mark managed one on his last cast.

I met Simon Pavelic from Adelaide on the river as I was getting rigged up. He knew me from my blog. It was great to meet a subscriber! We fished together for the day.

The fishing was tough and we were unlucky with our chances.

We were in a very wild place but these gold mining remains looked like a newly built stone wall!

Simon demonstrates the importance of wearing glasses while fishing. It’s better to pop out a lens than an eyeball!! It took us about 20 minutes to find the lens, It was in the river..

Alan Christy watched “Fish This” when it was aired for it’s one and only time on Discovery Channel in the US years ago.. It got him back into fishing and ultimately to NZ. It’s a shame that show didn’t happen!! We met for a beer and a fish…

Some more SL and blog followers, Scott and Ben.

Camping at the Mavora Lakes last weekend… Fishing and beer!

Me, Jeff, Not sure and Kristian Bang Foss (That’s his real name).

Kristian in my Barby Chair..

Beer.

No rush to the river but we still had a full 8 hours on the water.

Jeff onto a good fish which he fucked up.

This took my size 8 cicada blind. Superb fight! First fish…

Bang Foss happily plays a fish..

Not bad..

Jeff uses the Sage One the way one should!

Just under 6lbs..

We had 5 in about 20 minutes and 80m of river… all on dries. This from a skinny riffle.

What a magic 20 minutes!

The evening light made spotting tough and blind fishing was a non runner.